That's not "expensive". Expensive is that I need to pay $1.99 for something and I have throw away half of it because I couldn't use it. I'd rather spend $0.99 for 1/3 the quantity. I am spending less money after all.
I think this point is underappreciated. Sometimes it definitely makes sense to pay more per unit/kg for some item for a smaller quantity if otherwise you'd be throwing out an excess
At some point I bought a sampler set of miniature colognes from one of the big makers (CK I think). Probably 5 x 5ml or something. Dirt cheap, and perfect for traveling.
Turns out 5ml of cologne is enough for years and years if you use it rarely and sparingly (as you should). The huge 50 or 75ml perfume bottles must be one of the products most often thrown out without finishing.
I bet CK thought these sampler sets would create incentive to buy one of their larger bottles, not make customers set for life on cologne.
No sure they are thrown out due to the expense, I know I would never throw one out. But I do end up with 3 different ones on rotation because I don't want the same smell all the time. Smaller ones would certainly be better for variety.
They effectively have no expiration date as well, so there is no sense in throwing them out.
Personally I'm happy with my one scent though and will just keep using that until it runs out
Really what I was getting at with my original comment was more about food, and how it sometimes makes sense to take the higher price with a smaller quantity, iff you don't believe you'll be able to consume the larger quantity before it expires
Which doesnt apply to deodorant, toothpaste, cleaning supplies... or much of anything that Dollar Tree sells. Unless you are throwing it away for some reason other than that it went bad like you had to buy some because you are traveling, in which case, you are not at all the normal customer.
I agree with the claim that dollar stores are sometimes more expensive, but asserting the unit cost is higher is an over generalization.
One of the nice things about dollar stores, in my part of the world, is they don't play games with sale prices. Sale prices make it easy to cherry pick prices seen at other retail chains once or twice a year then claim they are cheaper. In many of those cases, the product is only cheaper per unit because they force you to buy the product in larger quantities (e.g. by taping or shrink wrapping multiple units together). That may be fine if it is a product where you can plan ahead, has a long shelf life, or is something you use in quantity. It is not so great when it increases waste since it is a "just in case" product or you won't be able to use it before it expires. If your aim is to reduce waste (or resources or money), you may be better off buying the product when or as it is needed. At any particular moment in time, the unit price at a dollar store may very well be lower than that of other retailers.
Another result of this, especially with food, is that it probably causes you to gorge in order to keep things sold in too large amounts from going bad. Now you don't have any of the thing you like, so you go buy another oversized package which will lead to you gorging again in a week or two.
Could be that they lure people in with lower unit costs on some key, easily comparable items, and then the customer ends up buying a bunch of higher margin items too. That happens to me often - go in for something I know is way cheaper than at Walmart and directly comparable, and end up picking up a few other things that may not be a killer deal but saves a second stop at another store.
It's the same strategy fishermen use when they invest a small amount of money at the bait store before a fishing trip. As you said, it's a lure.
The strategy is not exclusive to dollar stores.
> Like other retailers, a dollar store's interior layout is set up so that commonly purchased staples like cleaning supplies and milk are in the back of the store. This requires shoppers to walk through other aisles, resulting in impulse buys.
So, people's thoughts and decisions are affected by what is immediately in front of their eyes, despite their considered intentions arrived at through deliberation.
We all know that's true because it happens to us, and we've all experienced forgetting something until we walk out of the house, and then returning to inside the house or room before we can remember it again. Our thoughts are significantly dependent upon our circumstances.
What's surprising is that the full impact of our non-independence of thought has not been well accounted for by philosophers who speculate about the concept of free will.
I disagree with your characterization of this being non-independence of thought.
You don’t know what you don’t know. It’s not on your list because you didn’t want it when you went to the store. You saw it, and now you know about it, and now you want it, so you buy it.
I never understand people who try to make this seem nefarious. You walk past 10,000 things you didn’t think about and don’t want so you just walk past it without picking it up. There obviously some small exceptions, like filling the checkout lane with candy because they know kids are going to harass the parents, but in general it’s about the first strategy. Show people things they want that they didn’t know they wanted when they walked in so they will spend more money in your store.
Nobody called it "nefarious shopping." It is called "impulse buying," and stores are configured to maximize impulse buys whether through candy at the checkout lane or something else. Stores are arranged in the front decompression zone, the front, the center, checkout, etc. for this reason.
We all know and expect soda, chips, chocolate, and other highly fattening snack foods to be in the store, prominently displayed near checkouts, often advertised at a discount on sale.
> It’s not on your list because you didn’t want it when you went to the store.
Right. That's because in our considered state of mind, we reject those dietary choices as unhealthy. And yet, we end up buying it after we are exposed to retail layouts that are designed by psychologists to maximise the profit of the store owner.
> I never understand people who try to make this seem nefarious.
Some things at dollar stores are great deals, many things are not. You just need to know your prices.
“Dollar General” and “Family Dollar” stores tend to target poorer buyers who make poor pricing decisions from many points of view for a variety of reasons, ranging from poor access to transportation to poor financial literacy.
I was thinking about this the other day. Instead of raising prices on junk food, they are making the packaged size smaller. This might not be a bad thing in the US because of the obesity problem. Since people will be eating less unhealthy food they might save on health care costs.
